People sometimes ask me if I miss the United States.  Actually, people ask me this a lot…especially my students.  In all honesty, I don´t particularly miss the United States.  I miss my family.  I miss some of the people and places that make my life comfortable, but the U.S. as a whole?  Not really.  I am happy here, in Madrid, in Spain.  I wish my family (and Teddy!  And maybe even Misu!) could be here and then it would be perfect.  I don´t need my house, or my (parent´s) cars, or my neighborhood.  For me, home is where my family is, not in a specific place.

But despite all that, there are certain things that I miss about the United States.  This is Europe, so 99% of the things that I want can be found.  I used to describe Madrid as the U.S. on steroids because Europe seems to have EVERYTHING (and more).  But there is still that 1%…1% of THINGS that Spain just doesn´t have (or it´s not easy to find…looking at you, natural peanut butter and steel cut oats!!), plus certain customs that are just strange here when it comes to food.

Five Food Things I Miss About the United States

1 // Big coffee.

Espresso is great…it´s strong, it´s quick, it gets the job done.  But I 100% miss BIG coffees and how normal it is to carry a to-go cup around.  Sure, they have ¨cafe americano¨, but it’s not the same.  And you can get coffee to-go, but it´s more like boiling hot espresso in a styrofoam cup with a lid that doesn´t fit.  Maybe we should take time to sit down and enjoy our coffees instead of being in a rush yada yada yada, but I truly miss big, strong, American coffee.  Hey, Starbucks…knew ya were good for something.

2 // Brunch.

I have never been one of those brunch all weekend, every weekend with the girls kind-of-girls, but that doesn´t mean that I don´t enjoy it!  I am generally happier, hungrier, and more alert in the morning, so brunch is the perfect meal.  I especially love making brunch with my family (or friends! or whoever!)But, unfortunately, brunch just isn´t a thing here.  Lots of restaurants offer brunch, but it´s a tourist thing and not part of the culture.  And…the restaurants don´t really REALLY get it.  One restaurant was offering ¨ladies brunch!¨–on a Sunday night…

3 // Trader Joe´s.  Obviously.

Spain has Aldi, so maybe they will get Trader Joe´s one day.  But I doubt it…I can´t see the Trader Joe´s business model and product line doing particularly well in this country.  But hey!  They would have at least one loyal customer!

4 //  Mama´s cooking.

This one does not need to be explained, but suffice it to say that I have been compiling a list of foods my mom needs to make when I go home.  I started telling her some of them yesterday and she said ´oh my!  I need to get started now!!!´Yeah, you do, woman!  Kidding, kidding.

5 // Iced coffee.

Two coffees in one post!  But this is different than the first.  Spain just does NOT know what iced coffee is (except SB and Dunkin).  If you ask for an ´iced coffee´, they will pour boiling hot espresso over ice cubes that will melt in a second and leave you with watery espresso.  The worst.

Other things I miss- reasonably priced nut butters (15 Euros for a small almond butter…are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?!), steel cut oats, liquid egg whites, spaghetti squash